ToughPigs

Sesame 39: Guest Star Poll

Ryan Roe — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Season 39 of Sesame Street is coming to PBS this summer, and we're all vibrating fiercely with excitement. As usual, it's going to be a star-studded affair, and we've already seen announcements about several celebrities who will be dropping by the neighborhood to educate, entertain, and maybe grab a milkshake at Hooper's.

Which celebrity appearance do you think will be the coolest? Will it be Canadian rocker Feist, who is reportedly doing a variation on her hit "1234"? Will it be LL Cool J, whose very last name has often been the Letter of the Day?

What about David Beckham, who will be teaching Elmo the meaning of the word "persistence" as only a Spice Girl-marrying soccer star can? Maybe Sandra Oh of Grey's Anatomy will be the highlight of the season, as she portrays the Cookie Fairy. Ah, but Neil Patrick Harris just might top her -- he's playing "the greatest fairy in the world," the Fairy Shoeperson.

I know which one I'm most looking forward to, but which one are YOU anticipating? Let us know by dropping by the Tough Pigs forum to answer the very important question: "Which upcoming celebrity appearance on Sesame Street is gonna be the awesomest?"

Click here to place your vote in this poll on the Tough Pigs forum! (Hey, didn't I just say that?)

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Not Saturday, Evening, or a Post. Discuss.

Joe Hennes — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Did you know that the Muppets were featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post for three years in a row? It's true! And also a fact! The second of these monumental issues came during the blustery winter of 1980. It was the month in which there were only three topics on people's minds: Space Colonies, Pro Football, and the Muppets. Oh, and Jerry Fallwell, but he never did go out of style.

Today on ToughPigs, we're going to take a look at what inquiring minds were asking when they flooded the Saturday Evening Post message boards with questions about the Muppets. As it turns out, people wanted to know about Michael Frith. And in case words aren't your bag, SEP provided us with some fancy pictures too. Lookit the pretty pictures!

Special thanks to ToughPigs' own Michal for providing the magazine!

Click here to discuss how creepy "Inside Ed Asner" is as a headline on the ToughPigs forum!

Your Most Treasured Muppet Possession: The Responses, Part Two

Ryan Roe — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Well, there you are! Welcome back! This is the second installment of Most Treasured Muppet Possession stories submitted by Tough Pigs readers. The first installment can be found here. Now, what the heck are we waiting for? Let's hear about more Kermit dolls and junk:

Marianne:
Unfortunately the Most Treasured Muppet Possessions I had in mind a little earlier are now outdated, since I just received MR Gonzo for my 16th birthday today (and he’s all adorable in his wittle purple tux, aww, etc.) So it’s a whopping three-way tie between that and the drawing I received from Elmo in Long Island:

And the 500 piece puzzle I glued to my wall (contains Lew Zealand, Angus McGonnacle, Sal, Bobo, Link Hogthrob, AND Clifford: what are the odds)

Mary Catherine:
My most treasured Muppet item would have to be my Fisher-Price Rowlf puppet. Last spring, my mom picked me up in Albany after exams were over, and we went on a road trip to the University of Maryland so I could see the Jim Henson exhibit they had set up, watch Muppet clips at their library, and of course, take a picture at the bench with Jim and Kermit.

On the way there, we stopped in Princeton, NJ to visit my aunt. Before we left her house, she announced that she wanted to pass on a family heirloom to me that she had been saving for almost thirty years. I opened up the bag she handed me...and inside was the Rowlf puppet. She said that it had been a Christmas gift from my dad (her brother) to her when she was in high school and, amazingly enough, a really big fan of The Muppet Show.

Not only is it a pretty cool Muppet item to have, but now I have proof that my dad, for all of his grumblings about my fandom, does not hate the Muppets. Which means that all is right with the world.

Emma H:
My favourite Muppet possession is probably my 1984 baby Miss Piggy doll. I had one when I was little and stupidly threw it away when I was a sulking, miserable teenager. My brother trawled eBay to buy me one for my 21st birthday. It had to be the 1984 version, though - all the others of baby Miss Piggy are hideous. Especially the 1987 version, ugh.

I'm also very fond of my copy of Miss Piggy's Guide to Life and It's Not Easy Being Green because they both contain, in their own ways, some excellent advice... The thing I miss the most from my childhood Muppet fandom, though, is my Muppet Babies wallpaper. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but I remember it being white and covered in Muppet Baby heads! My parents let me choose it when I was about four, and they were worried I'd give myself nightmares. Never.

The two Muppet things I'd like most in the world are the complete collection of Muppet Babies on DVD (a dream that I suspect will be unfulfilled forever) and a Miss Piggy purse I once saw on eBay - it was covered in sequins and was very glam. She would approve. But I've never been able to find it again. Gosh, this was a long post. Apologies!

Tim:
Number 1 is pretty easy, though I have to mention several runners-up. This Kermit was released the year I was born, and has always been one of my most treasured possessions. I have no idea how he's managed to stay in good nick.

I was also terribly fond of my Baby Rowlf, though (like the Baby Kermit I have) the costume change puzzled me somewhat. I also have Piggy and Fozzie. Muppet Babies arrived at exactly the right time for me to latch onto it properly so it remains one of my favourite Henson properties.

Much uglier but also holding special places in my heart were the Fisher Price Piggy and Fozzie beanbags. They're fairly horrendous but in the flesh they have a bizarre charisma. Judging from the picture on the wiki, I should be glad that they had to hang out with the larger Kermit instead of his beanbag counterpart.

Alex G:
My most treasured Muppet item is a Kermit wired stuffed animal I picked up in a small shop in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. I was just beginning my Muppet fandom, but Kermit accompanied me on The Ride Across Minnesota, raising money for Multiple Sclerosis.

He accompanied me not once, but twice as I completed the ride. I changed it up for two years, once with a Ernie rubber ducky and an Animal stuffed animal (hehe), but both years suffered problems... Because I didn't have Kermit. For these reasons it is my most cherished and beloved Muppet item, even topping my 1986 Sesame Street figures (some of my first loved toys), or my Palisades exclusive Adventure Kermit, which I draw enjoyment from every day.

Wes:
My Most Treasured Muppet Possession is my Pigs in Space metal lunchbox! When I was younger my grandparents managed a Mini-Storage place and they would pay me a few bucks to clean the abandoned units and if I found anything I got to keep it. Needless to say, I found a Pigs in Space lunchbox and kept it.

Several years later it went missing... I think someone stole it when everyone was in a metal lunchbox craze. Well, last year my brother got me one for Christmas, better than the old one, in mint condition and even has the thermos. My apartment's small so I proudly display it in the bathroom, so everyone can enjoy it when they come over.

Joe:
My MTMP is a Kermit the Frog beanbag doll. I've had it as long as I can remember and it's accompanied me to my first day of school, my first summer at sleep-away camp, college, apartments, and so forth. And it's still with me today. Somewhere along the line, the Frog went all pirate on me and lost his right eye. The eye has never turned up, and I've long since stopped searching. I still expect to find it in an old Cracker Jack box or something one of these days.

A few years back, a friend gave me the Fozzie Bear beanbag that completes half of the full set, which elates me to no end. So, while my one-eyed, droopy, lumpy, never-washed Kermit might not win any beauty pageants, he's a prom queen in my book, and I love him so.

Christer:
My Most Treasured Muppet Possession has to be, as with most people I suppose, my oldest. And that little treasure is the Norwegian version of the Fraggle Rock album, on tape. As a kid I *loved* the Fraggles! Actually I loved most puppetry, but the Fraggles were my absolute favorites, and I nagged and nagged until I got the tape, and then I played it and played it until my parents nearly lost their minds.

Somewhere along the way I managed to lose the cover (how could I lose that cover, and not lose the covers of any other tapes I had at that age!), and the tape is obviously pretty worn now, but listening to that soundtrack just puts me right back to when I was five years old and Fraggle Rock was the most exciting, scary and exhilarating place on earth. I never believed in Santa, I never believed in Jesus, or The Tooth Fairy, but I *believed* in the Fraggles! Just look at Travelling Matt - they were out walking around us!

Some few years later, a little older but still a huge Fraggle fan, I experienced the biggest high and the biggest low, Henson-wise, in my life. I read in my local paper that Mr. Fraggle himself, Jim Henson, was working on a project filming a book by Roald Dahl, one of my all-time favorite authors, and certainly my favorite at the time. This project, of course, was The Witches, a book which I had recently read and loved. The best part was; they were going to be filming in my hometown! Norway in the book was going to be represented by Bergen, and they would be filming right where I lived, in the yawn of a city where nothing ever happened! I was extatic!

Sadly, the joy did not last. Before the movie reached Norwegian theatres, both Jim Henson and Roald Dahl had died, only a few months apart. My euphoria had turned to absolute devastation, and I had to do some pretty quick growing up. Many years would pass without me thinking of The Fraggles as anything other than a show I loved as a kid.

This all changed when, five years ago, I happened to stumble upon my old tape. I put it on, and the memories all came instantly flooding back. After singing along to all the lyrics I still knew by heart, when I reached the end, I heard the instrumental version of All Around The World, a track that featured on most of the European releases. As a kid I always used to skip that track (I couldn't sing along to it!), but when hearing it again as an adult, it was just about the best darned piece of music I had ever laid ears on!

Today I own pretty much every Fraggle music release (as well as a fair bit of other paraphernalia, of course), and have about 10 copies of the 7" single of All Around The World, including mint, sealed and picture disc releases. People tend to describe me as a true Fraggle nut, walking around the office donning my "I Appreciate The Muppets On A Much Deeper Level Than You" T-shirt. Your post is filed with the tag fanaticism, and my Most Treasured Muppet Possession is the single piece of merchandise that truly launched the avalanche that took me from Fraggle fan to Henson fanatic - for the second
time in my life.

I hope I can still get a tape player when I'm 60. Or 80.

Scott E:
This one's easy, because my most treasured Muppet possession is my most treasured possession, period. Several years ago, a group of my friends decided to get me a Christmas present…why… I don’t know. Anyway, one of them is very big into books and frequents a lot of used book sites on the net. On one of these sites, he stumbled upon a copy of Of Muppets and Men. He knew I would love it, so he checked it out only to find that it was an autographed copy.

The woman who was selling it bought it in a huge estate sale and was selling off all the pieces that didn’t interest her. The inscription in the book reads “Christmas 1981. To Buddy with our love, Kermit the Frog, Jim, Dave, and all the gang”. My friend contacted the Henson archive to see if it was authentic and who Buddy was. They responded that it was authentic and that the book had been given as gifts to everyone who had appeared on the Muppet show that year, so Buddy was, in fact, Buddy Rich.

They also asked who my favorite Muppets and sent picture of the main Muppets, autographed by Animal and Pepe with their response. So…as a huge Muppet fan, who happens to be a drummer, and whose favorite Muppet is Animal, this book is by far my most treasured possession. It spends its days on prominent display in my great room.



It's Ryan again.  I know this wasn't a contest, but we can all pretty much
agree that Scott won, right?  I mean, I'd love to own any copy of Of Muppets 
and Men.  It doesn't even have to be previously owned by an awesome guest
star like Buddy Rich... I'd settle for one of the lesser ones, like Shields... or
Yarnell.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the great submissions. And take care of your
Muppet stuff!

Click here to comment on this article on the Tough Pigs forum!

Your Most Treasured Muppet Possession: The Responses, Part One

Ryan Roe — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Muppet fans love their Muppet stuff.

I guess I already knew that, but now I have proof, in the form of a bunch of personal testimonials about beloved Muppet items. I asked for stories, and I sure did get them. Some people love their Muppet stuff so much they were unable to narrow it down to just one item, which is an indication either of how much our favorite bits of Muppet memorabilia mean to us, or of our rampant materialism.

As a result, I've split the responses into two articles. The first one is right here; the second can be found over here.

Now read on for a few of our favorite things:

Beth:

My treasured Muppet possession would have to be the Palisades Muppet theatre backstage playset. I mean, how cool is it? It's a perfect small Muppet show set that I can transport back and forth between college and home. And all the Palisades action figures that go with it of course, especially Sweetums.

Amy:
My Fisher Price Sesame Street Little People playset.

I got it for Christmas when I was four or five years old. I remember being upset that David and Maria weren't included amongst the Little People, but being very happy to have Mr. Hooper and Susan. (Guess I didn't give a rat's ass about Gordon!)

Big Bird, Oscar, Ernie and Bert were cool to have, too, but Mr. Hooper and Susan really made me happy. Mr. Hooper reminded me of my grandfather, and Susan was my favorite female role model at the time. She was a nurse, she drove a VW Bug, she wasn't afraid to talk back to Oscar -- how cool was that?!

Possibly the thing that fascinated me the most about the playset was looking into Bert and Ernie's apartment and counting the bottlecaps on the wall. They had the most interesting domicile of the apartments. My brother and I also had the Fisher Price Castle. We used to have the Sesame Street people look around in the Castle for the Count. We also pretended that Snuffy lived in the dragon's dungeon in the FP Castle. Kind of dumb, but we had an awful lot of fun with that fantasy. I still have Susan and Big Bird someplace. I miss Mr. Hooper.

Jenny:
A plastic Snuffy wearing a scarf and beret. It was a toy at my grandma's until one day I never saw it again. Then, years and years later in high school, my theology teacher had the exact same toy on his desk, and I had a huge SIRE* moment. I tell him the story and he freaking GIVES it to me. Snuffy now resides on my Ledge O' Crap. (despite the name, it is where the most esteemed plushies and figurines live)

*[Editor's note: SIRE, for those not in the know, is a Tough Pigs-coined acronym for Sudden Instant Recall Effect]

Martha:
My oldest, most-loved Muppet posession has to be my Grover puppet, circa 1974. I absolutely love him. I remember taking him to kindergarten - when he was much prettier than he is now - for show and tell. I have a picture with me, age 4, with my brand-new Grover puppet, which arrived at about the same time as my brand-new baby brother. Guess which one I was more excited about...

It's not really a posession, but I'm also awfully proud of the INEBG* Bathroom, which has a brand-new Kermit display shelf.
*It's Not Easy Being Green

Melissa:
I have several, I don't have the Fisher Price puppet but I got the doll, I'd say out of TOYS, it would be that, my Rowlf puppet and my Fisher Price Ernie doll that looks like he was hiding out where they found Saddam Hussein. But I can't part with any of them.

As far as NON toys, my genuine Big Bird feather that they gave me as a Henson intern, my Muppet Treasure Island crew hat that Steve Whitmire gave me when I visited the set, and all my autographs and photos with Henson folks.

Peter:
My favorite... was probably a 3D stacking Big Bird puzzle. I can't find a picture of it anywhere on the Internet, though. My brother once mischievously hid the various pieces throughout the house and I don't know how long it was before I found the last piece in the cream cheese. I had once actually decided to give it to Danny or Scott for Christmas, but then I couldn't find it. And then I decided that even if I ever found it, I was too selfish to let it go.

Cathy:
My very favoritest Muppet thing is actually two things. When I was a wee little tot, my parents got me a Miss Piggy trinket box. It was a knockoff of a Sigma piece and it was obviously handmade, but you could tell it was made out of love.

Anyway, my parents spotted this thing at a garage sale and the person selling it said that his daughter had made it, but had "outgrown" her Muppet phase, so they sold it to my parents for a dime. I loved this little box so much. It always made me happy when I looked at it because it reminded me of how much my parents loved me and supported me and my love of Muppets.

Anyway, a few years ago when I got married, Danny (who didn't know about my knockoff Piggy box) gave me the real Sigma Piggy box as a wedding gift. And it was such a great gift, because I could tell it was really thoughtful and given from the heart. And now both boxes are displayed proudly on my shelf, and while one reminds me of the awesomeness of my parents, the other now reminds me of all the awesome people I've met through the years here. All because of a shared love of the Muppets. Who knew?

Yancey:
Well... I would have to say my Miss Piggy Fisher Price dress up doll. My younger brother gave her to me for Christmas (probably in 1982?). I sewed her a number of spectacular outfits. She is one of my Muppet things I've owned the longest. I'm also very fond of my Piggy Enesco Marie Antoinette and Cleopigtra dolls. They're just so awesome. I got those off of Ebay about 6 or 7 years ago.

Anthony:
As for my own most treasured Muppet possession . . . I've never been much of a collector of things that you can't watch, read or listen to, so it's not a toy or anything.

Actually, I've gotta say the first Fraggle Rock LP. The kindergarten teacher in my hometown found it in her classroom and gave it to me when I was about a freshman in high school. I had only seen a few episodes of the show at the time, and I used to spend hours lying on my bed listening to that record over and over and over.

Even now, when I've seen all of the first 72 episodes of the show and several of the last year, those are the Fraggle Rock songs that always come to mind - Follow Me, Wemblin' Fool, The Friendship Song, Muck and Goo, Do It On My Own, Doozer Knitting Song, Easy is the Only Way to Go, and The Beetle Song especially.

Kyle:
My most favorite Muppet possession would have to be a several because I can't just think of one. The first one would be my plush 80's Big Bird. My mom said I carried that sucker everywhere. It was mine and nobody could touch it unless it was my mom or my sister.

But my then for some reason my dad told my mom that he had to throw it away because i had ripped its head off, but my mom thinks he threw him away because I was getting too old for it. I've been looking for him everywhere but can't find him. Hope I find it on ebay one of these days.

The second one would have to be the Oscar the Grouch in a can where you blow into the hose and his head pops out of his trash can. Not mine but my cousins', and I played with it all the time.

Third one was a Fraggle Rock drum set, but then I busted out pretty much all the drums and that was it for that set of Fraggles. I feel really sorry that i destroyed lots of my toys as a kid so now if I find something I had as a kid I save it and keep it from bad little hands.

Fourth one would be still not be mine but still I played with it. It was the Kermit the Frog puppet just like the one on the front page. It was my cousins but a different one from the first one.

Fifth one would have to be a Baby Kermit that sat inside of a wheel that looked like a Ferris wheel and spun around. Don't know why I liked it but it I did.

Sixth one would be a Oscar the Grouch puppet that came out in the late 80's or early 90's. He's still in his can but you could move the mouth. It was one of the Fisher Price ones. I now have a Cookie Monster one too that I found at Goodwill. That about does it but that's pretty much my Muppet Treasured stuff I have.

Quinn:
This is impossible for me to narrow down. The Palisades action figures, taken altogether, are probably my favorite Muppet possession, but not necessarily the most "treasured." I love every single one of them, and there are some highlights like Adventure Kermit and the Jim Henson figure that stand out above the rest.

While they were all made with attention to detail and more care than most Muppet toys we had seen up until that point, there was something special about some of the figures. Purple Tux Gonzo is still my favorite version of one of my favorite Muppets, and even seeing the Master Replicas Gonzo--the eight dollar piece of plastic is a better likeness, and more fun, than the version I'd have to pay hundreds of dollars for. And because of that, I appreciate Palisades' work on the Muppets line.

As for the most treasured...this is probably a cop-out, because it's not technically a Muppet possession. My Rubber Duckie. Even though he's not a licensed Muppet(TM) product, I only have him because Ernie has a Rubber Duckie. My brother gave me Rubber Duckie for my 17th Birthday, which was 17 years ago. And even though now I'm on Rubber Duckie II, I still have that same unnatural attachment to, and affection for, my Rubber Duckie.

He goes on every trip with me, and Miles and Carter consider him almost as much a part of the family as they are. They know when it comes down to it, he's been in the family longer than they have, and if I have to make a choice, it'll get dicey. I have more expensive Muppet toys, I have rarer Muppet toys, I have a piece of Gonzo's fur on my fridge from Muppets in Space--but it's Rubber Duckie that I love. I feel a song coming on.

Great stuff, eh? And I'm only a little bit envious at all the cool merchandise other people have that I never had. Click here to jump to Friday for more sappy nostalgia!

Click here to comment on this article on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

ToughPigs.com - Topo Gigio Fans Who Grew Up

Joe Hennes — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:22:00 +0000

To celebrate the national holiday of people acting like asses, we at ToughPigs.com pulled a fast one on all of you readers. In case you missed it, this website was replaced for 24 hours with a Topo Gigio fansite.

To our knowledge, no such fansites exist. But in our research on Topo, we found that he's actually pretty awesome. Do yourself a favor and watch a few clips of him on YouTube. Some are in Italian, but that shouldn't matter. He speaks the international language of adorableness.

Five articles adorned ToughPigs.com, written by myself, Ryan Roe, and Michal Richardson. Special thanks to Scott for handling the technobabble (and double special thanks to Scott for handling the technobabble of this website for the past year and a half! Scott's a superhero!).

Click here to see what life was like for a Muppet fansite on April 1, 2008.
Click here to talk Topo on the ToughPigs forum!

Who the Heck Is Sam Plenty?

Ryan Roe — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Ah, the Jim Henson Company. In these past few, non-Muppet-owning years of their existence, they've given us a number of projects, but there really haven't been any that I've... what's the word I'm looking for?... ah, yes. "Liked."

Sure, I tried my best to muster up some enthusiasm for Puppet Up, but in the end I was unable to convince myself that it was entertaining. (Nor was TBS.com, despite its desperate video clip descriptions: "When a funny orangutan and some funny aliens do a funny thing, the funny stuff that happens is FUNNY! Really! PLEASE WATCH THIS!")

The Skrumps held some promise, but we haven't heard a peep from them in a year. And the 15 minutes I spent watching that Tinseltown pilot... well, I wish I had used that time to floss, or clip my nails, or glue my socks to the wall.

But now there's a new Henson Company production I actually, actually like... and the crazy thing is? There are no puppets. "No puppets?!" you might ask, as your eyes bug out and your jaw drops. It's true. The Sam Plenty Cavalcade of Action Show Plus Singing has no puppets, no cartoon characters -- just humans acting like fools. (This is not the first non-puppet Henson production... in 1999, JHC produced a UPN family sitcom called Family Rules that absolutely nobody in the universe has ever heard of, including you, me, or Brian Henson. But that's neither here nor there.)

What IS either here or there is Sam Plenty's Cavalcade of Action. The whole thing is actually pretty difficult to describe... I guess I'd call it a "serialized singing cowboy sci-fi low-budget adventure parody with songs." Huh. Well, I guess that wasn't difficult, just long-winded.

I first encountered it on the Henson.com podcast, where the host moderated a roundtable interview with the "cast" and "crew" of the exciting new movie Sam Plenty in Underdoom. It had a very Christopher-Guest-movie vibe to it... the "actors" like Dolores del Norte and Rex Argo discuss their careers and working on the project, and while that elicited more grins than guffaws, they've obviously put a lot of thought into it and they're really committed to the characters.

Hearing the audio-only podcast, I assumed it was a puppet thing -- I could even imagine what the puppets would look like, including director Sanso Pantopuntaquenia. But when I went to SamPlenty.com, I was surprised to find that, while there are a number of Henson puppeteers involved (Drew Massey, Alan Trautman, Victor Yerrid), there's not a puppet to be seen.

The videos available on the website are episodes of the movie serial that was discussed on the podcast, so you're actually seeing fictional movie characters played by fictional actors. Is that confusing enough for you? Unfortunately, you don't get to see Sanso Pontapuntaquenia, but you do get to see episodes of Underdoom (starting with... Part 3?), and they're pretty dang entertaining.

It's completely silly, but the actors play it straight -- there are never any snarky winks at the camera or conscious acknowledgments that this is anything other than a serious adventure film. It appears to me they had a pretty low budget for this project, but they use it to their advantage: highlights in the two episodes posted so far include an army of invisible men, and one sequence seems to have been filmed in the employee parking lot at Henson. Perhaps my favorite thing on the site so far is the "Sing-Along," whose lyrics suggest that the songwriting budget was as limited as the production budget.

I don't think I would pay to see this stuff, and it wouldn't translate well to a format longer than than the webisode, but what they're doing now works pretty well for the medium.

Anytime the Henson Company does something new with puppets in it, I always feel a sad little twinge of "Gee, remember when these were Muppets?" I'm not suggesting that Henson should abandon puppets, but you know what? Sam Plenty is better than any of that recent puppet stuff. So if that's a direction that works, maybe that's the direction they should keep exploring.

But maybe with fewer songs about horse poop.

Click here to discuss Sam Plenty on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Together Again: Follow Up

Joe Hennes — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:43:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I posted a very important reader participation project for the ever-so-loyal readers of ToughPigs.com. It was a book about togetherness, about helping your fellow man, about finding that missing piece to complete your life’s goals.

Now, what do I have that needs a helper? I have an article that won’t fill itself with silly things to say, and snarky observations about a 37-year-old book. Who has something good for a ToughPigs article?

But what’s this? All of my ToughPig friends are racing toward me with seemingly random things in their hands! Why, there’s Beth with a Northern Exposure DVD! And there’s Tony with seventeen rolls of scotch tape! And Ryan R. with a bowling trophy! And Michal with a beard of bees! And Peter with a case of the blues! And Jog with an autographed 8x10 of Joe Rogan! And Erik with his identical twin brother! And Amy with a tap dancing penguin! And Anthony with the key to the men’s room! And Grant with the Internet! And Ryan M. with insomnia!

Special thanks to all of the above folks for making this happen. And feel free to read The Together Book by clicking here. Enjoy the funny!
Jog: "What do I have that needs a helper?" Sounds like the Sesame Street Book of Slavery.

Erik: I think they're all running with stuff because they heard Antiques Roadshow was in town. The fact that they're running past someone who needs help is just a coincidence.
THE ART:

Jog: What does the illustrator have that needs a helper? Reference material as to how many fluffy rings Big Bird has around his legs. Four? Five? Or, four on one leg, five on the other leg?

Ryan R: I love the art. I always like the more expressive takes on the characters. They didn't even bother to color within the lines, which sends kids the subtle message that one needn't always conforms to society standards in order to be helpful.

Tony: Bert looks like a neanderthal, Cookie looks like he's choking, and Grover looks like Fozzie.
BETTY LOU:

Ryan R: Betty Lou ordered a milkshake bigger than herself. I think she knew the whole time that she was going to need help finishing it, and she was just waiting for Pantsless Farley Guy to join her. She's just lucky he was the one carrying his straw collection... if it had been Herry, she would have ended up with fur in her milkshake.

Michal: No wonder she looks so terrified that her hair is about to fall off. She's facing a big enough milkshake to drown in, some Farley impersonator who forgot his pants is fast approaching, and her feet can't even reach the floor for a quick escape.

BABY MONSTER:

Anthony: Bert does not look at all pleased about having to help Sherlock Hemlock trudge that soapbox car through the snow.

Ryan R: Herry doesn't look very happy to be joining him/her on that sled. Something tells me Herry never really wanted to help, but he knew that if he didn't, he wouldn't be in the book.

Michal: Apparently, the Sesame gang all wear their regular outfits, rather than any gesture towards winter gear - or in a couple of cases, any clothing whatsoever - while trudging through the snow with their sacrificial offerings to the Baby Monster.ERNIE:

Jog: Most of these guys seem to be content with whichever one object leads to the solution to their problem, right? But look at Ernie with Cookie in the sandbox - that's right, he took EVERYBODY's stuff.

Ryan R: The next scene, which we don't get to see, is Ernie asking "What do I have that needs a helper? I need to get my stomach pumped!" And then the other characters run in carrying llamas, underwear, the corpse of Richard Nixon, etc.

Jog: Are we seeing a selfish side of Ernie, or did he simply say, "Guys, come on. Get real. It's a SAND CAKE. I can make a new one. No conflict here." And then everyone would be mad at Ernie, calling for help and letting them carry all those things for nothing, and Ernie would have said: "Hey, but, ya know? You can still leave all your things here. We'll find stuff to do with it."

Ryan M: The expression on Bert’s face when he's holding the wrench leads me to believe he plans to whack Ernie in the back of the head with it, perhaps as revenge for all the silly pranks Ernie has played on him over the years. NOW who's eating the sandbox?

Beth: No one seems to notice the problems involved in asking Cookie to help out with a falling cake either. Ernie is too ecstatic over the invention of a portable flat surface called a plate to notice the cake's sudden disappearance.

Ryan R: Before everyone brought their stuff, all Ernie had was a cake made out of sand. Now that Cookie Monster has offered his "help," it's only a matter of time before all the sand cake is gone. So I can't blame Ernie for wanting to keep the other stuff... at least until Cookie Monster eats it too.

Ryan M: Ernie is obviously to blame. Remember that Life cereal commercial where the two boys give their brother Mikey who won't eat anything a bowl of cereal and are surprised that he eats it? This is sort of the same thing- Ernie is obviously testing Cookie Monster. So Ernie decides to make a cake out of sand and then announce that the cake is going to fall over. Cookie Monster, glutton that he is, brings a plate in order to keep the cake from falling, and then proceeds to eat it. The expressions on both Ernie and Cookie Monster's face show that Cookie Monster is as satisfied as he would be eating a real cake, and that Ernie is obviously pleased that the con has worked. Continuing in the footsteps of Mikey, Ernie's next trick will no doubt be sharing with Cookie Monster a delicious snack of Pop Rocks and Coke.

FARLEY:

Tony: Why do all the male AMs have no pants?

Jog: What do Roosevelt Franklin and his friend have that needs a helper? Answer: blisters, since they've strapped their rollerskates around their bare feet... Or someone to stop Ernie from beating the green guy senseless with his sledgehammer.

Beth: No one thinks to help the rollerblade kid with a band-aid, an asprin, or the doctor in the neighborhood. Instead, the old geezer brings a tuba to "help" with his headache. Or to entertain everyone by blowing Little Bird out of it, a la Robin on the Julie Andrews episode of the Muppet Show.

Michal: I just noticed that Little Bird carries a copy of "American Gothic" to help Pantsless Farley Impersonator with his skates. Way to sneak in art appreciation, Sesame Street!

Grant: I like the two-page spread depicting Sesame Street itself, complete with a rare early glimpse around the corner. But if that's supposed to be the stoop of 123, then Big Bird's going to be mad when he finds out that they've replaced his nest with a fruit store, 29-cent oranges or no 29-cent oranges.

GROVER:

Jog: Check out Grover. He's sweating on practically every page.

Beth: I think Grover must be "helped" by creative usage of controlled substances. It's the only way to explain those eyes.

Michal: Grover's lucky to be a synthetic monster with no need for thermoregulation. Can you imagine him sweating through every waiter and bellhop outfit, running backstage to change twice per sketch?

Peter: This book is clearly a forgery, as it seems to be the first and only time Grover has ever tried to help someone and actually succeeded.

Ryan R: Maybe this was the first time Grover had ever tried to be helpful. Then, finding success, he got addicted and determined to be as helpful as possible for the rest of his life, only to fail hilariously. That explains why he keeps popping up with different jobs (waiter, taxi driver, professor)... he's desperate to recapture that one moment where he was actually useful.

CAPS:

Michal: So does anyone have any thoughts on the choice to put the resolutions in all caps?

Jog: They have to shout so that the senile old man can hear it too.

Ryan R: As many internet users can attest, saying something in all caps means it's indisputably true.

Jog: If this book were reissued these days, it'd probably read "ZOMFG! THEY FIT JUST RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111 ^_^ ROFL"

Amy: They ran out of lowercase type?

Beth: Again with the capitals. It gives me the feeling that this book was written as a satire on Sesame Street with its evil overlords and sadistic tuba players.
THE OLD MAN:

Jog: My favorite character is the senile white bearded man who runs in with the most useless crap, like a tuba.

Beth: Also, check out the old geezer on a snowy hill carrying a lawnmower on his head. No wonder there are no adults on Sesame Street. Clearly they all contracted Alzheimer's and were put in a home for their own safety.

Ryan R: Evidently it's the kind of lawnmower you wear as a hat.

Michal: Is this the same old man bringing the lawnmower and the tuba? Do you think he rode his lawnmower from his farm all the way to Sesame Street?

Ryan M: The [old man] looks somewhat like Professor Hastings with a green nose- if the lawnmower was running, perhaps this explains the character's mysterious disappearance by the early 1970s- narcolepsy plus running lawnmowers...not a pretty picture.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Beth: I think you can sing the last pages: "Every day I need a helper. Every day you need one too... You help me, and I'll help you" to the tune of "Monster in the Mirror."

Click here to discuss the nature of togetherness on the ToughPigs forum!

Frog Supreme

Joe Hennes — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:14:00 +0000

True Story: Last week, I was walking through New York's SoHo, and my ~~Spidey~~ Sixth Sense kicked in. "There are Muppets nearby," I says to myself. I started sniffing the air for the scent of felt. Lo and behold, on the side of a building there was a quartet of weather-worn pictures of Kermit the Frog! "What is Kermit doing here?" I says. I thus removed my propeller beanie and donned my argyle detective's hat. I had a mystery to solve.
My first clue was the word "Supreme" on Kermit's shirt. I suppose all I really needed was that one clue, because a quick Google search told me all I needed to know.

Supreme is a New York-based retail store, specializing in "counter culture," like punks and skaters and other weirdos. So naturally, they'd want Mr. Counterculture himself, Kermit the Frog, to headline their latest campaign. Or maybe they meant to hire Kermit the Forg, but got their e-mail addresses mixed up.

Kermit had his picture taken by Terry Richardson, a photographer well-known for taking pictures of high-profile celebrities. The pictures Terry took with Kermit are currently on display at Colette, a high-end retail store and gallery in Paris, France. So what are we waiting for? Road trip!!!

There's a short video out there of Terry and Kermit where you can see that they actually used a puppet with a performer (Steve maybe?) as opposed to a photo puppet. And you can see the difference in the final product. Kermit's head is far from flat, and he actually looks like he's happy to promote Supreme, rather than just being propped up in a t-shirt.

So, enjoy these pictures of Kermit and a bunch of people I don't recognize!

Click here to join the counterculture revolution on the ToughPigs forum!

What's Your Most Treasured Muppet Possession?

Ryan Roe — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:46:00 +0000

Hey, Muppet fans! Picture this scenario:

Late one night, you're enjoying a pleasant dream about dancing rats when you're suddenly awakened by a bunch of aliens. Using their powers of telepathy, they explain to you that they’re working on a comprehensive project to study Earth (last week they were studying entomology; next week is toupees), and they’ve just now gotten around to analyzing Muppets. They're going to take all your Muppet merchandise back to their home planet and you will never get it back, but they're going to allow you to keep one item.

So what will it be? Your vinyl LP of the Muppet Movie soundtrack that was the first album you ever owned? The Swedish Chef plush you got on your family's trip to Disney World? Or maybe a McDonald's Happy Meal toy of Mokey Fraggle driving an eggplant? Or a doll of Miss Piggy driving a carrot, a toy that actually exists but is sadly not on Muppet Wiki?

As Muppet devotees, we own a lot of stuff, and there are happy thoughts and memories associated with all of it. But I suspect I'm not alone in having one Most Treasured Muppet Possession. Mine is that guy in the picture up there: a 1978 Fisher Price "Muppet Puppet" Kermit.

For one thing, he's one of my oldest Muppet possessions. When I was just a tadpole of a thing, my parents went on a trip to New York City (leaving me in Grandma's capable care), and they brought me back this puppet as a souvenir. My parents provided me with a lot of Muppet toys in my early years, thus ensuring that I would grow up to be a total geek and spend the rest of my life wasting heaps of money on my Muppet collection. Thanks, Mom & Dad!

This puppet has been with me my whole life, just like my Muppet fanhood. It's moved from place to place (currently residing in my apartment in… New York City, which seems poetic somehow), and it's appeared in various school projects and home videos. When those trademark squinty eyes began to rub off, I filled them in with a black Sharpie, a fact that becomes painfully obvious on close inspection. (I can only hope that somebody, someday, cares enough to fill in my eyes with a Sharpie when I get old.)

What's your Most Treasured Muppet Possession? I want to know. Where'd you get it? How long have you had it? What's so special about it, anyway? You can tell me by sending an e-mail to ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com, or just drop by the Tough Pigs forum and talk it about there. If you have a photo of it, that's great, but by no means necessary.

Then I'll post the best stories right here on ToughPigs.com. I'm not going to put a deadline on it or anything... Let's just say I'll give it a few weeks. And if you don't have a Most Treasured Muppet Possession, why not go out and get one? I bet you could find an old, used Baby Gonzo toothbrush on eBay for pretty cheap.

Click here to talk about your Most Treasured Muppet Possession on the Tough Pigs forum!

Who will be Jim?: RESULTS

Joe Hennes — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:40:00 +0000

It's been almost a month since I announced the "Who Will Be Jim" contest, and we're ready to crown the winners! Ok, so there aren't any actual "winners," much like in a soccer game. Except that sometimes people do win in soccer. So maybe that wasn't the best analogy. The special prize for those of you who participated in giving us your thoughts on who could play Jim Henson and Company is getting to see your name in print in a Muppet Fan blog. Congrats!

Now let's get to the Jims (and Franks and Jerrys and Richards, etc)!

Jim Henson

Robert Downey Jr. (suggested by Kynan)

Steve Whitmire (suggested by Kellie)

Johnny Depp (suggested by Neil)

Josh Charles (suggested by Kynan)

Jeff Daniels (suggested by Brad)

John Cusack (suggested by Kynan)

William Hurt (suggested by Joe)

Jason Segal (suggested by Kynan)

Daniel Day-Lewis (suggested by Ryan)

Ryan Gosling (suggested by Brad)

Jeff Bridges (suggested by Joe)

Cate Blanchett (suggested by Peter)

Frank Oz

Peter Sarsgaard (suggested by Kynan)

David Cross (suggested by Brad)

Bernie Brillstein

Robert Prosky (suggested by Andrew)

Richard Dreyfuss (suggested by Kynan)

Jerry Juhl

Andy Richter (suggested by Ryan)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (suggested by Tom)

David Lazer

Tony Shaloub (suggested by Kynan)

Bradley Whitford (suggested by Kynan)

Lew Grade

Robbie Coltrane (suggested by Ryan)

Jim Broadbent (suggested by Andrew)

Bob Hoskins (suggested by Andrew)

Maurice LaMarche (suggested by Michal)

Richard Hunt

BJ Novak (suggested by Kynan)

Jay Baruchel (suggested by Kynan)

Hank Azaria (suggested by Joe)

Jane Henson

Maggie Gyllenhaal (suggested by Kynan)

Chris Langham

Hugh Laurie (suggested by Ryan)

Dave Goelz

Joshua Malina (suggested by Kynan)

So, if anyone from the offices of Penny Marshall are reading, now you know who to cast. See, we make it easy for you!

And if anyone has more ideas for who you think should play Jim & Co., please stop by the ToughPigs forum and let us know!
Click here to discuss the many beards of Jim on the ToughPigs forum!

ToughPigs on The MuppetCast!

Joe Hennes — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 06:31:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered what Ryan and Joe's voices sound like? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you're in luck! ToughPigs' own Senior Contributors were interviewed by Steve Swanson last week, and now we're featured on his latest podcast!

Tune in and you'll hear what Joe really thinks of Mr. Magorium, Ryan's obscure Muppet impressions, and who Pepe the King Prawn is romantically linked to.

If you're an impatient fellow, the ToughPigs interview starts about 34 minutes into the podcast (UPDATE: the MP3 version starts at 34 minutes, but it starts at 47 minutes when you play it directly through the MuppetCast website.. no idea why that is), but I recommend listening to the whole dang thing. Steve puts a lot of effort into the show every week, and the quality speaks for itself.

Click here to listen to the podcast, and go to MuppetCast.com every week for podcasty goodness.